Chapter 4

Weeks have passed since Zarak invaded Erdia, beautiful towns have been destroyed and forests with magical creatures have been chopped down. The Knights Of Faith have been searching for survivors since. One of The Knights Of Faith: 'Sir Eldwin' got severely hurt in a fight against 50 knights of Zarak's army, he was able to take every one of them down but at what cost. He is a fighter that mainly uses magic and summoning, but he also relied on his sword that now is broken and physical strength. He has bruises everywhere and cannot move a muscle without it hurting, the healers of The Knights Of Faith castle have been trying to heal him and get him back in the field, but they say it's going to take a while before he is fully healed again.It's a sunny day and Tryst is jogging through the fields of green grass. He just did his daily workout. Since Alaran has been training him, he has grown quite some muscle. Although he has gotten much stronger, he is still too scared to fail. Alaran told him to do 200 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, 250 squats, 100 pull-ups and 10km run every day with no rest days. His muscles hurt every day, but Alaran told him that he has his father's genetics, so he doesn't have to worry about damaging his body. Tryst stops by a small calm stream to take a rest and drink some water, he gasps for air he has been running for 1 hour straight. He sits down on the soil and forms his hand into a bowl and fills it up with water from the stream. He thinks of how the last couple of weeks have gone: Erdia is under attack, one of the largest cities has been taking over by Zarak. The Knights Of Faith have not been themselves, and Alaran is constantly in a hurry when Tryst tries to ask him something. Tryst feels better about himself, but he still thinks he is too weak to fight even the weakest enemy. He has been constantly letting other participants for The Knights Of Faith kill the enemies. Getting into The Knights Of Faith is really hard since there are only six members, he has no idea why he hasn't got fired from the training yet. Alaran says he sees something in Tryst, but what could that possibly be? He knows he can do better, but when it comes to a fight or performing in general, he gets scared of other people's opinion.He sits in silence for a while, smelling the high grass and looking at the beautiful and diverse landscapes of Erdia: Mountains, forests and blue lakes. He hears the birds chirping when suddenly everything goes quiet except for the stream. He does not know if his perception has gotten better, but he feels something is off. He feels something coming from behind, but it's too late... He gets kicked right in his back, and he falls into the stream. He quickly turns around and sees a kind of small muscular man, he doesn't have much hair, and he has an ugly beard. Probably a bandit. The place where the kick landed hurts, but not too much. Tryst gets up before the bandit can hit another strike. Tryst takes a deep breath before he speaks: "Normally I would've run, but no, not this time." He hopes to scare the bandit off. Tryst acts cool from the outside, but from the inside he is shaking right nowThe bandit opens his mouth, he hears a raspy voice that reminds him of a pirate: "How scary, the little boy is not going to run this time." The bandit chuckles, "Give me all your stuff, or I will beat you to death, boy"Tryst answers: "No, No, I don't think I will" he clenches his fist and lunges at the bandit. With all his power, he hits the bandit in the face. The bandit's face turns from the impact, he turns his face back to Tryst. Tryst can see the bandit's busted lip before the bandit chuckles and speaks once again: "You punch like a 12-year-old." The bandit delivers a blow to Tryst's face, and he is knocked back, he can see the blood dripping down from his nose and landing in the stream. Tryst tries to punch the bandit in the chest, but the bandit is too quick and catches Tryst's arm and throws him onto the ground. Tryst looks the man in the eye with fear, the bandit speaks: "I do remember your face from somewhere. You're the son of the guy who somehow defeated Tremor. That weakling died 11 years ago, right? What was his name again" The bandit looks Tryst in the eyes again. They are not filled with fear anymore, but with something else: Hate. He is not scared anymore, his fear has turned into hate and anger and all he was thinking about was killing this guy. Tryst opens his mouth: "His name was Harik" The bandit got quite scared by the hate in the boy's eyes but wears it off. "Harik, what a stupid name is th..." He couldn't finish his sentence before Tryst stand up, sprints at the bandit and delivers him a blow in the chest. He could hear the bones cracking and saw the color draining from the bandit's face before he got launched 4 meters away with immense speed into a tree. He hears the impact and the tree cracking before it falls down into the ground, he hears the birds flying away. He hears another voice: "WHAT! Are you okay?!" Tryst sees a guy who looks a lot like the bandit with a longbow in his hand. "You monster! You killed him." Tryst hears him, but he couldn't care Tryst finds himself in some kind of focus, he hears the man putting an arrow on his bow. "You are going to die for this!" The man releases the arrow and Tryst hears the bowstring twang and the arrow whizzing towards him. Tryst can tell the man knows how to use a bow, the arrow is aimed exactly at his head. Right before the arrow is about to hit Tryst and pulverize his face, Tryst catches the arrow with his right hand. He sees the shocked face of the man. Without thinking about it, Tryst throws the arrow vertically in the air and sends it to the man with the bow. The man puts his bow in front of him to block the arrow, he may damage the arrow, but he doesn't stand a chance against Tryst's power. The arrow shoots right through the bow and wood splinters are shot in every direction, the arrow hits the man right in his heart, and he falls down on his knees. Tryst can feel all his wounds and bruises healing, even the pain in his muscles vanished. He hears his heart pumping in his chest, and he is slowly starting to realize what just happened. Before the man falls dead on the ground, he is able to speak three more words: "What... are you?"